Page 20 of Tangled
Ava shook her head. “Well, to be clear, I know he works for someone unimaginatively called ‘the Wolf.’ But who the Wolf is, other than one of the heads of an LA drug cartel, I don’t know.” She paused, and Brad sensed she was putting two and two together. She wasn’t Sabina’s second-in-command for nothing. “He killed someone that night. It wasn’t a dropped pot, was it?” she said, directing her question at him. “The police report you asked me to look into at Roxy’s? You were there. You both were,” she said, her gaze darting to encompass Scarlett.
Brad glanced at Scarlett. She nodded, then set a hand on his, letting him know she’d answer.
Ava’s gaze zeroed in on Scarlett’s hand resting on his and she let out a little squeal. “Itwasa woman!” she said, all but bouncing in her chair. “Are you two a thing? Please tell me you’re a thing.”
Brad didn’t know what they were, not yet, but given they were having a baby together, he figured that at least qualified them as being athing. “We are,” he said, turning his hand over and lacing his fingers with Scarlett’s. “But as we only found each other yesterday, it’s new,” he added.
Scarlett studied him, her amber eyes searching his. He squeezed her hand, and she gave a little nod. They’d talk more later.
Ava silently clapped her hands together, her long nails clicking. “I’msoglad. This should sufficiently distract Anthony for at least a month as he gets to know you,” she said. “Oh, in case he hasn’t told you, Anthony is his dad and is a cross between a mother hen and a teddy bear. Once he learns his oldest son, the last of the three, is entering coupledom, his life will be complete. Well, to be fair,grandchildrenwill make his life complete, but you two being together is a good start.”
Scarlett choked on her tea as Ava said those last words. Thankfully, Ava misinterpreted the reason and assured her that Anthony wouldn’t press too hard on the issue. At least not at first.
“They don’t know about her yet,” Brad said to Ava. “And Scarlett and I haven’t talked about when to tell them. If you could not say anything for a day or two, I’d appreciate it.”
Ava narrowed her eyes at him. “As much as we all like to be the first in the know, when you tell your parents about Scarlett is your decision and your story to tell. I won’t crow about knowing before them untilafteryou tell them yourself,” she said.
Brad inclined his head, accepting the slight rebuke. Then he turned to Scarlett. “You want to tell her? HICC will be involved, and she’ll hear it from Ryan later today.”
Scarlett nodded, then proceeded to tell Ava everything she’d told Ryan and Mari the evening before, leaving out any references to the baby. When she finished, Ava let out a low whistle and leaned back in her seat.
“Wow, you caught the eye of someone who’d hire Alexei Petrov and, potentially, the Wolf. I’m thinking Gracie might have been into more than you knew,” she said.
Scarlett made a face. “Entirely possible. Like I told Ryan, she held her cards close to the vest, even with me. I knew she had addiction problems, and she let slip that she sometimes sold her body for her next fix. But I don’t know who she bought from, whether she had a pimp or a madam, or even who she spent her time with.” Scarlett paused, rolling her mug as she looked into its depths. “I was out of the country ten months a year. Sometimes more. I don’t know that she would have let me into her world more if I’d been around. Knowing Gracie, probably not. Still, it feels like I could have been a better friend.”
To his surprise, Ava leaned across the table, peeled Scarlett’s hand from the mug, and held it in hers. “I think you were the friend she needed,” Ava said. “You were the one she called and told about going to rehab. You were the one who had the key to her apartment. You were the one she left all her things to. She wanted you to have them. You. Not someone else. I don’t know what we’ll find in them, but I’ll bet you that we’ll find something. And you were the one she trusted, the one she knew would go looking.”
Scarlett blinked, and a single tear fell down her cheek. Brad reached behind him, snagged a tissue, and handed it to her.
“I’m not one to cry—”
“Oh, pish,” Ava said, letting go of her hand and sitting back. “Cry all you want. Your childhood friend is dead, possibly murdered. If you’re not going to cry about that, I’d worry about you.”
Scarlett gave a watery laugh and wiped her eyes again. “You know, you’re right. When I’m working, we—the nurses and doctors—have to be so in control all the time. People look to us for that, for assurance that everything will be okay, even when they know it’s not. But I’m not working right now, and I’m allowed to mourn my friend. As complicated as she was.”
Ava gave a decisive nod of approval. “On that note, I’m going to head into the office and see if Ryan’s dropped the stuff off yet. He’ll want to know about this as well,” she said, pointing to the picture of Jason Katz before swiping it up and slipping it into her bag. “Now you two be good, but not too good. If you decided to go the same route as Ryan and Olivia and have a baby a hot minute after getting together, I wouldn’t be sad. Between the imminent arrival of the twins and that, it would keep Anthony off my back until at least after the wedding.”
And with that, she gathered her things and left. The second the door closed, Brad chanced a glance at Scarlett. She met his gaze, then they both started laughing.
“I have to admit, I’m a little worried about telling your parents,” she said when they quieted down. “Not because they’ll wonder who this hussy is who moved in on their oldest son, but because of, well, I’m not exactly sure. I guess I’m having visions of drowning in baby stuff.”
Brad chuckled. “Not far from the truth,” he said. “Although I can assure you, they won’t think you’re a hussy. First, Kara’s talked about you. They know you’re a good person. They know you’re smart and dedicated and were Kara’s anchor during some pretty dark times in her career with the aid agency. Second, they trust me. If I’m happy, they’ll be happy. And over time, you’ll get to know each other, and they’ll like you for you. Not just because we’re together or because you’re the mother of their grandchild.”
She ran her fingers through her hair, brushing the curls from her face. “I hope that’s true. Although I’m not sure how you can be so certain whenyouandIbarely know each other.”
He regarded her, taking in her concerned expression. She had a point. But one that, to his mind, was easily addressed. Sure, certain types of knowing could only come with time, but other types? All it took was a conversation. Or a look.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
She cocked her head at his question. “Better than yesterday morning but not as good as last night.”
“Have you eaten?”
She shook her head. “I took one of the pills Kara gave me right before you got here. It’s starting to kick in.”
“Good,” he said, rising. “I have thirty minutes before I have to be in a meeting. How do pancakes sound?”
“Um, good. But you don’t have to do that.”
